Source: Ming Pao
Author: Li Lifeng
Over the past ten years, social media has not only become a channel for many citizens to contact the news content, it has also become a platform for citizens to share news information with others, express opinions on current affairs and discuss.Scholars sometimes use the concept of "news participation" to summarize the behavior of people sharing and discussing news on social media."News participation" represents the relationship between people and news information: Is it just a passive information receiver?Or is there a positive participation in the circulation of news information and the interpretation of the content of news content?Therefore, news participation is also regarded as a model of citizen participation.
News participation is related to the social and political environment
The degree of news participation is closely related to the political environment and social atmosphere.When there are major incidents or disputes in the society, people's intentions to share and discuss news generally have improved; however, this is also partially building whether the freedom of personal speech is guaranteed and whether the degree of social tear is serious.
The annual global network news survey survey of the Reuters Research Institute of the United Kingdom has always been tracked by the news participation of online journalists from various places.If the situation of Hong Kong is concentrated, in the survey made in February 2017, 17.9%of the respondents said that they would comment on the news content on social media.Share news content on mobile communication programs, and 13.6%will discuss news on social media.
In February 2020, the proportion of news from social media on social media was rising to 21.7%in the survey of the later period of anti -repair exercise.%And 38.1%, the proportion of discussing journalism on social media also rose to 19.8%.
But with the end of the anti -repair movement and the establishment of the National Security Law in the port area, whether it is because the social atmosphere is cooled, because it is disappointed with social development, because the risk of speech brought about by political and legal environmental changes is alsoWell, the participation of Hong Kong citizens' news on the Internet has declined significantly: During the survey of 2021 and 2023, the proportion of news on social media fell to 15.8%and 16.5%, and the proportion of news sharing in social media dropped to 21.9%And 19.7%, the proportion of sharing news on mobile phone communication decreased to 26.6%and 25.8%, and the proportion of discussing news about news on social media fell to 13.5%and 15.7%.
Positive and negative experience for Internet news participation
At the personal level, news participation on the Internet can bring positive or negative experiences.The positive experience can be "heating" with a friend who is like -minded, and it can be a serious and meaningful communication with people with different opinions; negative experiences can be scolded by polarization.In the investigation of the Reuters Institute in 2023, three new questions were added. One of them asked that the interviewees' news participation in the Internet was positive or negative.As a result, after excluding people who answered "I don't know" or did not see news on the Internet, 12.2%of the interviewers pointed out that their experience was negative or very negative.%Means that your experience is positive or very positive.On the whole, the experience of online news is mostly positive.One possible reason is that the spread of the Internet is not new for a long time, and people probably know how to avoid some negative conditions.
It is expected that the news participation of the news will be higher.This is true.If you add up to the above 4 online news participation methods to become a 0 to 4 -point meter, among the respondents who participated in the experience of online news, 28.6%of the interviewees are positive.Among the respondents with negative experience, only 18.5%of them were two or more.
What is more interesting is that the degree of online news participation and the experience of news participation are also related to people's "carefulness".The other two other issues of the Reuters Institute of Journalism asked whether the interviewee would discuss politics online and offline online and offline.The results show that after getting rid of "unknown" and not discussing politics at all, 18.9%refer to that they will be careful when discussing politics online, 56.9%refers to that they will "be a little careful", 20.1%means that they "will not be very very very good.Be careful, 4.1%means that you are not careful at all.The first two numbers added to 75.8%.
If politics is discussed outside the Internet, 18.7%refer to that you will be very careful, 54.7%refers to that you will "be a little careful", 22.5%refers to "not be careful", 4.1%means that you will not be careful at all, you will not be careful at all, you will not be careful at all.EssenceThe first two numbers added 73.4%.People discuss the degree of carefulness when discussing politics offline, which is a little lower than the online discussion, but the difference between the two is not much.
Need to "cautious" will not discuss news
Reuters Research Institute's research team has made some comparative analysis of cross -state / region. It is found that more than discussing politics online, the country / region that will be cautious, and the people's online news participation will be higher.That is to say, you need to be careful not to make people do not participate in news discussions; on the contrary, if the social and political atmosphere is hot, people will participate more in news and political discussions, but at the same time, they may be careful when they participate.
Back to Hong Kong.If the personal level is analyzed, among the people who will be very careful or a little careful when discussing politics on the Internet, 26.1%will have two points or more on the table of news participation; people who will not be careful when discussing politics onlineAmong them, 23.5%have two points or more on the scale of news participation.The two groups of respondents were not very different, but in terms of numbers, the carefulness of discussing politics online was positively related to news participation.At the same time, 39.6%of those who are cautious when discussing politics online, 39.6%indicate that their online news participation experience is positive; only 22.2%of those who do not be careful when discussing politics online, only 22.2%indicate their online news participation experienceIt is positive.
These statistical results seem to indicate that cautiousness is a little positive, which is also in line with the traditional wisdom of some kind of Chinese society.However, it is also necessary to point out that the investigation questionnaire does not show what "cautious" refers to.Understanding from general common sense, the respondent may think of whether he will not express his personal position directly under certain circumstances, and whether he will control his tone and words when expressing opinions, or whether it will reference and share information.Pay attention to the authenticity of the information.
If "careful participation" refers to not spreading fake news, not being misled by the title party, etc., then carefulness is naturally a good thing. It is easy to understand the positive correlation of carefulness and participation in experience.However, if "careful participation" involves to avoid direct expressions and even self -examination, then the "need to be careful" itself can be regarded as a question, that is, whether the social atmosphere is unspeakable, "need to be careful"Only to participate in social discussions.
The author is a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese University of Hong Kong
